Bans aren’t the answer to problematic social media accounts

Across the United States, millions of progressives and proponents for equality cheered (or at least had a good chuckle) earlier this month when Facebook, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube collectively banned alt-right conspiracy theorist and hate speech-spewing Alex Jones from their respective platforms. In the words of Spotify, this was done because his brand “expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics.” In the words of Apple, “Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment…